Maps and Atlases: MTV2 Interview

Maps and Atlases: Songs for Ghosts to Haunt To (Live)

Wow! Maps and Atlases are the best new (to me) band ever! Imagine Yes, Gentle Giant, Brian Eno, Dave Matthews, Peter Gabriel, Captain Beefheart, and Don Caballero playing some amazing psychadelic pop tunes, and that might give you an idea of the pop and technical might of Maps and Atlases! From Chicago! On tour now!

Maps and Atlases -- The Most Trustworthy Tin Cans (Live)

The Fall of Troy--Ghostship Part V (Live)

The Fall of Troy: as if prog legends Yes and King Crimson met Unwound, Drive Like Jehu, Voivod, and 2008 emo.  I would like to see a Fall of Troy/Maps and Atlases show.

Two great songs by the Flying Lizards.  Her Story is really great dubby experimental pre-Stereolab kind of stuff, and Money is a pretty funny new wave cover of the song "Money."  Wish there was a video of their song "Window" or stuff from their excellent Fourth Wall album on Youtube.

Die frühen Talking Heads mit Psycho Killer (ganz einfach gestrickt, aber sehr effektvoll) sowie Gang of Four's To hell with poverty. Awesome!

By the way: in beiden Fällen Frauen im Line Up am Bass, oder irre ich da?

Und damit bin ich wohl nicht allein. Vor einigen Monaten startete ein Projekt im Internet, in dem in unter dem Titel Post-Punk Junk zeitgenössische Mitschnitte von Songs damaliger Bands zusammengestellt wurden. Mittlerweile ist das tolle Programm wohl ins TV abgewandert, aber die ersten fünf Folgen findet Ihr hier.

Viel Spaß!

Nice stuff--somewhere in the intersection of Joy Division, the Swans, Sonic Youth, Live Skull, and Middle Eastern drone music. International cinematic music before that arguably needless term "post rock" came into vogue--where post rock usually just equals ambient and prog rock music.  Awesome.

And they came out with a new album, 1938! It's awesome, check out this song 1938. I LOVE the guy playing the shakers; percussion is VERY important, it's an integral part!!! The whole album is great, Monsoon is another great new song.

Savage Republic: 1938

Erfreulicherweise ist das Buch nicht rein chronologisch geordnet, sondern bildet Cluster - nach Städten, ähnlichen Bands, Gender und so weiter und so fort. Dabei geht es dann Stück für Stück voran. Ich habe mich schon an Johnny Rottens Rückverwandlung in John Lydon und direkte Weiterverwandlung in PiL delektiert, mehr über Pere Ubu und Devo gelernt als ich möglicherweise je wissen wollte und steige gerade in die No Wave-Szene der Endsiebziger in New York ein.

Thank's, dear old flatmate!!

Whip it ist wohl der bekannteste Song von Devo, aus dem Jahr 1980. Was heute nur noch wenig aufregend scheint, war damals ein echt heißer Scheiß. I still love it.

Be sure, dass Ihr die nächste Zeit hier immer mal wieder weiteren heißen alten Scheiß zu Hören bekommt.

We all love disco-ified classic rock, here's the video for Golden Earring's Twilight Zone. "When the bullet hits the bone!" The new-wave-ish prog-rock-ish dance bass breakdown in the middle of the song is classic.

But the real treasure/gem is Golden Earring's Fist in Glove: resplendent classic rock new wave/postpunk. Sounds like Pylon meets Shellac or something on a classic rock disco tip. Unfortunately I can't find a link to a video or mp3 preview of the song anywhere.

Here's some obscure but good new wave: Out on Blue Six - Party Moods (mp3). Nice frenetic female-fronted new wave, with that great jangly angular guitar and kind of dub influenced bass and drums. There's a really great keyboard/synth part towards the end of the song. Kind of superficially reminiscent of the Delta 5, but not really. Kind of also like the great female fronted stuff on the first Flying Lizards record and on their Fourth Wall record.  They had at least seven inch and a cut on a 1980s compilation that I'm aware of, and this song was re-released on some more recent compilation. The bass player I think was also in this band Shriekback.

This is the best DJ mix ever made: funk, soul, new wave, eclectic: jazz, library music, prog, folk, soul, new wave, post punk, indie, etc.

Lock and Shawl/DJ Letters and Science:

Arthur Verocai-Na Boca Do Sol

Christian Vander-Love in the Darkness

Dawson - DJ Shinrip

Eyeless in Gaza-John of Patmos

Flying Lizards-Her Story

Francis Lai-Rapt

Fucking Champs-Lee Tom

George Hirota-The Ancient Consciousness of Evil Spirit

Hiroshima-Winds of Change

Hollywood Cinema Orchestra-Long Ago and Far Away

Joji Hirota- Sublimation

Josef K- Final Request

Killing Joke- Nervous System

Life After Death-Marks

Lime-Wake Dream

Live Skull - Wisdom & Gravy

Lock and Shawl - Run That One By Me Again

Lock and Shawl-Hop Along

Lock and Shawl-Redlining-featuring Francis Lai, Brian Bennet, Steve Gray, Rufus Chaka Khan, Hamilton Joe Frank Remix

Magazine-The Great Man's Secrets

Martha and the Muffins-Swimming

Michel Colombier-Layas

Minutemen-Search

Mudhoney-Broken Hands

Patrick Cowley-Sea Hunt

Pere Ubu- On the Surface

Phil Manzanera- Miss Shapiro

Rotary Connection-I am the Black Gold of the Sun

Shocking Blue-The Butterfly and I

Snakeshed- Karate Moves

Spike in Vain-Hamlet's Dilemma

Stranglers- Baroque Bordello

Susan Christie-Paint a Lady

Talking Heads-Born Under Punches

Bonus tracks:

Bonnie Dobson-Bird of Space

Golden Earring: Fist in Glove

Almost made the list for the novelty/strangeness factor: Golden Earring -- N.E.W.S. It's really good...if you're into that kind of thing--a hard rock new wave hybrid kind of thing. Sounds like it could be on a parallel universe Nine Inch Nails Pretty Hate Machine or a poppier D.A.F. album or something. Nice drums especially and synth bassline, scratchy guitar. Could only have come out of the 1980s.

Francis Lai photo from: Filmreference.com: Francis Lai

Also check out the Sweet/Dazz Band--Love is Like Oxygen/Let it Whip (Lock and Shawl re-edit) (mp3) if you're into some crazy serendipitous mashup action.

A very disturbing story has emerged from the UK that the headstone of the late frontman of the postpunk band Joy Division, Ian Curtis (pictured above), has been stolen from Macclesfield Cemetery. The headstone was discovered to be missing on July 1st.

Curtis' family decided to make news of the headstone theft public in the hopes that it will be returned.

Peter Hook, bassist for Joy Division and New Order, told XFM London:

"I must that admit that in my life I've been to Ian's stone a lot. It's somewhere, especially with the effect it had on me after what we did, it's somewhere that I go for a moment of quiet reflection just to give the guy a nod."

Inspector Gareth Woods, of the Macclesfield Neighbourhood Policing Unit, told BBC 6 Music:

"This is a very unusual theft and I am confident that someone locally will have knowledge about who is responsible or where the Memorial Stone is at present."

The headstone is inscribed with the words, "Love Will Tear Us Apart," which is the title of Joy Division's most successful single.

The legacy of Ian Curtis has been revisited recently because of Anton's Corbijn's feature-film biopic about Curtis, Control, which was released last year as well as a self-titled documentary about Joy Division that recently opened in America.

Curtis hanged himself on May 18, 1980 at the age of 23 in his Macclesfield home. Joy Division were due to leave the following day for their first American tour.

To read more about this story, see the articles on the BBC 6 Music site at http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/news/20080703_curtis.shtml and the XFM London site at http://www.xfm.co.uk/news/2008/peter-hook-plea-for-curtis-headstone.

To watch the video for Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart," click below:

Nice...Sebastien Tellier - Une Heure. Some kind of new wave analog synth 70s/80s pop fusion song...the full, finished album version with vocals and lyrics is on the Sebastien Tellier - Sexuality album, produced by Guy-Manuel De Homem-Christo of Daft Punk. Sounds sort of like a mix between Josef K and the Happy Family (Momus), and the Flying Lizards or something. Or the band Out on Blue Six (pre -Shreikback).

Listening to Sebastien Tellier's albums Politics and Sexuality, it's like he's a great descendant of Francis Lai, mixed with bits ofthe Sparks, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Stereolab, Andrew Bird, and Daft Punk. I hear some Magma in there too, believe it or not (especially the vocals on "Lenny)! Sort of like some good Brian Eno in scope and experimentation within the pop format...

Oh, this makes sense re: the Magma connection (from Last.fm):

His growing popularity has won him some well-known fans. Once the smart, artsy kid from the 17th Arrondissement could count only one hip musical connection: his father played with nihilist French prog rockers, Magma.

Nice!

Great news via the Good bad Music for bad, bad Times! blog:

Here’s an email that I received from Robert Griffin who now runs scatrecords.com and was the main man behind Spikes In Vain. Go to his website - there’s a limited supply of original Spike in Vain 12″s available!

________________________________________

“Very cool blog you’ve got there, nice to see some love for that old scene, thanks. I’ve gone on to play lots of other music, but the attitudes and aesthetic of those days will always guide me.

Sometime next year I’m going to release all the Spike in Vain recordings on cd. After Disease Is Relative, there was a cassette-only album, “Jesus Was Born in a Mobile Home,” and there is also an unreleased third album, “Death Drives a Cadillac.” There may be a DVD in there also, I recently got a video of an almost complete 1983 gig. There are some other odds and ends too, it will most likely be a 3 disc set. If there’s enough interest I might press up some of the unreleased material on vinyl also.

Some other info for you - Outerwear were kind of a sister band to SiV. I played drums, Chris Marec on gtr/vox, and Beth Scarf on bass. There was a cassette album called “The Outerwear Limits.” Our slogan “loud slow bad rules” heh.. We had a great time pissing off all the “correct” punks. But Beth and I did eventually learn our instruments, so we started doing things like wrapping ourselves in bandages so that we couldn’t play so well. Very fun band and Chris wrote some pretty cool songs for it.

Funny, the Guns were the youngest band on that compilation, 14 or 15 years old at most, and both the main guys have passed on. Dave died of a brain aneurism in his 20s, and Scott died last fall of a heart attack. Just before he died he put together a Guns cd - all their original recordings, maybe a dozen tunes, then re-recorded versions from a reunion a few years ago. Not sure how you’d get one of those. These two were also the drummer & bassist in The Dark. Small scene, lots of inbreeding!

There’s also a 2CD by The Dark on Grand Theft Audio called Scream Until We Die.

cheers

Robert”

Posted on 20-May-08 at 11:40 am

Spike in Vain and the Dark are two of my favorite bands ever...totally like the mighty DRIVE LIKE JEHU but circa 1984! Totally predated a lot of the whole DC emo/Fugazi/Rites of Spring stuff. Better than 99% of indie postpunk stuff out there, kind of undiscovered in the same way great Live Skull albums are. Robert Griffin is one heck of a experimental postpunk post-prog hardcore noise guitarist! I like their stuff as much as the mighty Live Skull, will appeal greatly to fans of bands like Drive Like Jehu, Sonic Youth, the Gordons, early Killing Joke, etc. .

Yes--Close to the Edge Pt.1

Yes--Close to the Edge Pt.2

And then God told Yes to create Close to the Edge Pt. 1...This is hand-down one of the best pieces of experimental music, classic rock, prog rock, indie, indie-metal, prog-metal, postpunk ever made...(of course, having been made in 1972, this song predates most of those musical genres).   All of the music of bands like Voivod, Don Caballero, Sonic Youth, Drive Like Jehu, the Minutemen, etc., could probably fit in this one song. I've always thought Mike Watt must have been a huge Yes fan in the Minutemen, and that the Minutemen were fantastic at making one-minute-long prog rock opuses (so many parts and ideas fit into so little time!!!). It's weird that I never really heard people refer to early Minutemen as prog rock, but that's what it so obviously is (at least up until Double nickels on the Dime?). Yes--Closer to the Edge, for fans of the above-mentioned bands and obviously bands like Gentle Giant, King Crimson, Magma, etc.

Just saw Swervedriver live on their 2008 reunion. Totally awesome, one of the best live shows ever. Hopefully they'll do this every few years! Sort of like what a mix of Sonic Youth, Drive Like Jehu, Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Live Skull, Polvo, Josef K, Magic Hour, Major Stars, Mudhoney, Loop, the Cure, and Dinosaur Jr. might sound like--except for it was way better than any Sonic Youth or Dinosaur Jr. shows I've ever seen. Pretty perfect! They pretty much can play music, especially play guitar, the way probably 95% of anyone who likes guitar-driven indie rock has ever wanted to be able to play--a mix of experimental, jangly, noise, psychadelic fuzz solos, feedback, experimental chords, etc. Best of all though, pretty great catchy-songwriting skills and exactly the right rhythm section. Hoping for more live shows--(last time I saw them was 1998--gasp--10 years ago)--and hopefully a new album someday?

Here's a treat:

MP3: Swervedriver-Kill the Superheroes (live)

One of the best Swevedriver and indie guitar rock songs ever made!!! Listen to the solo starting at 4:55...brilliant! Can anyone tell me what show this is? Someone sent me this on CD once, it just said "Swervedriver--Live Covers," although most of the songs aren't covers but are Swervedriver songs...

The tracklist is:

1. Son of Mustang Ford
2. Kill the Superheroes
3. Duress
4. Sandblasted
5. Sunset
6. Rave Down
7. Juggernaut Rides
8. Scrawl and Scream
9. 99th Dream
10. Wrong Treats
11. ? Some cover?
12. ? Some cover?
13. ? Some cover?
14. Magic Bus (The Who)

Also see:

The Boston Globe: A decade later, Swervedriver still has it

Seattle Weekly: Swervedriver’s U-Turn

And...Youtube video, Swervedriver @ The Fillmore "Kill the Superheroes" 2008

Here's another of my favorite songs:

Swervedriver - Blowin' Cool (Live), Live at the London Astoria 1993, back when the singer Adam Franklin had dreads...

And another favorite in 2008 ...surely someone has more than a 22 second clip, Swervedriver - Never Lose that Feeling

Photo by Bsearles

The Gordons. You'll love them even if you've never heard them. Classic songs any fan of stuff like Mission of Burma and Sonic Youth would like such as Spik and Span, Right on Time, Growing Up, etc. I've never heard Vol 2 until now...I can't believe this hasn't been re-released on CD or anything, that I know of. The songs on Vol 2 feature a lot of Christian Death-Only Theatre of Pain/Killing Joke/Voivod/Drive Like Jehu/Sonic Youth/Live Skull-like tri-tone dischordant guitar freakouts, which is always a good thing. Some of the songs have more of a hardcore/punk bent then on Vol 1, which may have turned some people off initially based on some reviews I have read.

Mp3: The Gordons: Vol. 1

Courtesy of No Ship on My Sea

Here's the cover of the CD rerelease which pairs Vol 1 and the Future Shock EP.

Let's start with a tiny part about me.. =)
The world shouted 'IT'S A GIRL' on April the 19th 1989 at 4AM.
You can call me Tien or Tina, most people do now..
I am 19, I don't feel 19, I don't really feel like a number at all and I don't know how you are suposed to act when you are 19.. And well.. I kind of do have a Peter Pan complex..

But basically I just try to do what I think that is a right thing to do.. like everybody else does I guess. I'm a nature person and I'd rather spend my days dancing through the trees in the forest.
 The cherryblossom tree or also known as Sakura-tree would be my favourite out of them all. I am a thinker, a philosopher, a dreamer, a writer, a reader, a musician and an artist. I play the piano for quite a long time and I used to play the guitar aswell.. I'm catching up my guitar-skills now *woo* . I love to read nice written poetry and good books. I got a new book today called 'The Alchemist' by Paulo Coelho. Lain told me a while ago to read that book but I was reading a 1184 pages long book then which I just finished.. The Alchemist has 140pages so I think I'll finish that one soon.. I'll tell you what I thought about it Lain!. =)
Anyway, music.. a well spoken subject in most of peoples lifes, I like oldies 70s-80s stuff.. PostPunk, Deathrock, Batcave, Goth, Oi!, Punk, Noise and eveything like that.. With Punk I do not mean emo-bands, I don't like emo music!..
And this.. this would be me.

That's all.. for now.
Tien ♥.

The Dark--Scream Until We Die

mp3: Fire in the Church

Super super awesome, from the early 80s, mix Drive Like Jehu with Black Flag and Killing Joke. We NEED that Spike in Vain 2CD compilation some day!!!

From Ohio.

Did I already post about this?

*Update* Great news on the Spike and Vain front!!!

AC Temple--Half Angel. Great band from the mid 80s-early 90s UK, Somewhere between Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, Live Skull, Polvo, etc. This is from their poppiest CD.  Reportedly they might release this performance on DVD, that would be awesome.

Night Marchers--You've Got Nerve, Bar Pink Elephant, February 8, 2008

What a great song!!!

The most striking part of the visit was seeing the area where John F. Kennedy was assassinated. It was something I'd honestly not thought too much about as we neared the area where it happened. As historical events go it's one one of the most well-known and analyzed (perhaps over-analyzed). I was surprised to find myself getting somewhat emotional as I stood in Dealey Plaza and gazed up at the Texas School Book Depository and over to the the Grassy Knoll. The most striking feature of the area was the white X to mark the spot where the assassin's final bullet struck JFK in his Lincoln as his motorcade moved down Elm Street. Conspiracy theorists sat on the curb nearby and handed out 9/11 DVDs as a man sold some type of literature connected with the assassination. "Motorcade," a song by the British postpunk band Magazine that obliquely recalled the events 15 years after the fact, suddenly became stuck in my head. At that very moment I wish that I had had my iPod with me.

Spellista

• The Monochrome Set - Love Zombies (1980)
• The Electric Prunes - Sold to the Highest Bidder (1967)
• Gökçen Kaynatan - Pencerenin Perdesini (1973)
• Yoko Ono - Greenfield Morning I Pushed an Empty Baby Carriage All Over the City (1970)
• Dagens Ungdom - I det tomma sessionsrummet. Studenten. Kanslierna. (1982)
• Amon Düül II - Syntelman's March of the Roaring Seventies (1971) / bob hund - Reinkarnerad exakt som förut (1996)
• Kocani Orkestar - Edinaesetorca (1997)
• Shooby Taylor, the Human Horn - Stout-Hearted Men
• Almendra - Obertura (1970)
• Jan Dukes de Grey - Sun Symphonica (1971) / Üç Hür-El - Gönül Sabreyle Sabreyle (1975)
• Bigge Holm (Nonne Hall) & Sjömanspojkarna - Lilla Inga for till Singapore (1937)

Bonusmaterial

Outsidermusikern Shooby Taylor, känd från skivorna och boken Songs in the key of Z, gör sin grej på Apollo. Han inleder med att i sällsynt illa valda ord förklara sitt "human horn"-koncept - "I blow me" - och blir därefter rekordsnabbt utbuad av publiken och bortsjasad från scenen av en steppande pajasfigur. Vilket öde för en uppriktig konstnärssjäl.

You should get Germbox's Fraction of Exaggeration CD if you don't have it--it's amazing, sort of like Voivod's Nothingface meets the Bastro and the Jesus Lizard and Drive Like Jehu.

Drive Like Jehu - Hand Over Fist - Al's Bar

Don Caballero - Slice Where You Live Like Pie-Fireside Bowl

Germbox -Frankie Mayorga and unreleased intro